PLATEAU PRIDE
Plateau Pride started in 2022 as celebration of the launching and official "coming out" of community mental health agency and non profit organization, Hope Development Practice.
This year marked our third annual pride festival in East Pierce County. Each year we have around 500 participants at our event. We have live music, food trucks, vendors selling merchandise and sharing services information, activities, and much more! As the first Pride event of it’s kind in rural WA, Plateau Pride promotes open, safer, more educated families and communities.
We are committed to becoming more accessible and inclusive each year, this year's location is testament to that commitment. The new centralized event location at Sumner High School was chosen to increase accessibility for all of our community that may or may not have vehicles and rely on public transit, or have mobility struggles. We were also able to book ASL interpreters for the event this year. A huge thank you to Cat Ellis and Kodi Howard for you hard work all day long!!
How did we do at PLATEAU PRIDE 2024? Let us know your thoughts (click for survey).
Plateau Pride 2024, was on July 14, 2023. We are grateful to all of our sponsors, vendors, silent auction items, entertainment and much more.
If you are interested in participating in Plateau Pride next year, please reach out!!
If you are interested in sponsoring Plateau Pride. Please review our sponsorship level options below.
PlateauPrideFinal.movCheck out our Donations page for more information about sponsorship levels. Below you will find photos from previous years of Plateau Pride. Thank you to all of the performers, sponsors, volunteers, and community members that make Plateau Pride possible each year.
Why Plateau Pride?
Plateau Pride is our largest annual community engagement effort. It marks the celebration of our coming out in 2022 as a nonprofit specializing in accessible, inclusive, and representational mental health services for the LGBTQIA2S+ and the rest of the Gender, Sex, and Relationally Diverse(GSRD) people of Washington state. There is significant support in our state around the Sound for our community. In Washington, like most areas of the United States, the further out you get from metropolitan areas, the less safe and less inclusive the areas tend to be for marginalized populations like the Queer community. While located in the plateaued portion of Pierce County, our nonprofit works with individuals and families across the state and in the more rural areas thanks to the telehealth expansions after COVID.
We know that the more you can see the human in someone, the more likely you are to treat them with respect and safety. Plateau Pride brings this spirit and felt sense of safety, acceptance, and inclusion to a more rural area of the state that has historically not been a safe space for the GSRD people living there. As our office is based out of Puyallup, we have kept the event in Pierce County. In 2024, we moved the event to the Sumner High School parking lot in order to be more accessible by bus and for individuals without vehicles or potential mobility struggles.
We know our work is important, just watch the videos from each year and you can see how this event is impacting communities. We are hearing that for the first time in their life, participants feel they can truly be themselves in their hometown. We fervently believe no person should have to live in fear of being themself and we are showing up each year at community events and hosting out own, Plateau Pride, in order to facilitate this community healing. Please join us in this effort in whichever way you are comfortable. Whether that is participating in the event, volunteering, donating, or even liking and/or sharing our social media presence. Our message is clear, you are valid as who you are right now. You have community that loves you and together we can heal the wounds of bigotry and rejection. Our day to day work is to help heal families and individuals in order to promote a safer community. At Plateau Pride, we target healing for the community directly.
If you are a fan of what we do and want to take part in bringing community healing, take your time looking around our site. There are many opportunities to partner with us and contribute to the healing in our mission, vision, and values. Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter. Visit the site often as our public calendar is on our homepage and we post announcements there as well. We create the safer future we need by working together.
Are you interested in becoming a vendor at this year's Plateau Pride? Sign up here!